Written February 2006 when we got engaged :)

*Brian Thomas Heffernan

Brian grew up in Red Bluff, CA, he is from a great family and is the oldest of 5 kids. Brian went to UC Davis for undergrad and then went on to Santa Clara University for his law degree. Brian is now a lawyer for DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary and does real estate law or "dirt law" as he calls it. His office is about 10 blocks from his house! Brian loves his job and is great at what he does.

Brian loves hunting, fishing, working on his house and his yellow lab Sage. (okay, maybe "love" isn't the right word for Sage but he's been around for 9 years and loves Brian!)

Here is a picture of Brian in his living room on Christmas with his dog "Sage" and my Jack Russell "Ollie." Ollie thinks he is a lab and tries to out-eat Sage, as you can see both dogs could use a trip to Weight Watchers.

Brian bought a house in Menlo Park almost 3 years ago that was a disaster and has fixed it up himself... it is a great house in the Willows, about half a mile from where my parents live and walking distance to downtown Palo Alto and Menlo Park (when we're really ambitious). It has a great yard and he has really fun neighbors. :) This is the "after" picture of the house... below you can see what it looked like when he bought it!

This house had "condemned" stickers on it when Brian found it! Leave it to Brian to take on a challenge... he replaced the roof, windows, doors and all of the electrical. He re-built the roof of the garage that was falling in and had a "squatter" living in it, he remodeleld the bathroom, landscaped and hardscaped and made the whole place look great. After we met, we put up bead board in the hallways and painted every room inside. We're waiting to remodel the kitchen after we get married, although I've tried to convince Brian on a few occasions we can tackle it in a weekend! Brian's done a great job turning this house around!

Mary Regan Simonson
(Written by Brian! February 2006)

Mary's from right here in Menlo Park. She's the oldest as well among the four Simonson siblings. Evenings at the Simonson House are always a good time and they may be the only family that makes it harder than mine to get a word in at the dinner table.

Mary went away to William and Mary in Virginia and came right back to Menlo Park after college with intentions of becoming a pediatric oncologist. Mary still works with kids but in a less clinical way. She owns Academic Trainers (www.academictrainers.com) which she started on the side while studying for the MCAT. Her flagship location is in downtown Menlo Park and she also has a second location in Aptos (near Santa Cruz). She keeps many of the Stanford students employed throughout the school year and it seems we can't go anywhere without running into a client praising her for turning their kid's grades around. She loves kids, loves what she does and was recently dubbed the peninsula's "Tutoring Titan".

Never one to sit idle, Mary also just launched GoGo Menlo! (www.gogomenlo.com). Her new venture keeps her busy matching GoGo girls (and GoGo guys) to families who need an extra hand with babysitting, car pool or just about anything else. It's a great service! If you're lucky you may get her brother, Jerry, or my sister, Katherine, GoGoing for you in their free time.

Mary's enjoys polo and long walks on the beach. (very funny Heff) She has three horses, Bob, Al and Santi who are chopping at the bit to get back out on the field for the new season. Most of her games are around the corner in Atherton and make for a great way to spend an afternoon.